Fire Center 2007 and the NorCalfire yahoogroup is the place to be. Not only will you find correct, consolidated information for Northern California fire radio traffic, you'll find exclusive and original info not found anywhere else. Fire Center 2007 is here to help you bring a chaotic and new world of radio traffic calmly into your scanner and livingroom.
Fire monitoring is the best of two worlds; totally chaotic and crazy yet at the same time very well organized and under control. Unfortunately some agencies have made moves into 800Mhz trunking, leaving the interoperability ease of VHF Hi and causing communication fiascos on major incidents, especially in SoCal. Interoperability was the buzzword for fire seasons 2004 and 2005. It still hounds firefighters to this day. This year we'll see if changes made then will make 2007 a smoother ride over the airwaves with some new interoperability-assigned freqs, technologies etc. We also might see mutual-aid radio problems as some agencies respond into a narrowband-only environment. At large incidents, narrowband compatible radios will be issued, but initial attack can be scary when you can't talk to the engine down the street from you.
Fire can be mystical and mysterious as well as powerful and unforgiving. I respect every bit of it yet thrive at being right in the middle of it. So during high fire danger you'll find me providing fire patrol for CDF or during a major incident - assisting in amateur radio CDF traffic or OES ACS. If it's in Red Bluff, I'll be in the middle of it all, taking pictures for RBFD and making sure the camera doesn't melt. ;) Loads of fun all around.